In “A Doll’s House”, Nora wanted freedom from Torvald. By both authors, freedom is defined and shown in different ways. Freedom in “A Doll’s House” is what Torvald has control of and Nora does not. Torvald can do whatever he wants and has all the freedom while Nora can not even eat a macaroon without Torvald saying something about it. Nora basically gets treated like a child by Torvald.
Characters throughout movies, plays, and novels usually change in one way or another. In Henrik Ibsen’s play “A Doll’s House” many of the characters changed in ways from Act 1 to Act 3. Nora, a woman who is married with three children, is the main character throughout this play. This play consist of a husband, wife, care taker, doctor, and friends. They all come over to the Helmer’s home at some point in the play and speak to Nora or her husband.
Literary Argument Paper A Doll House is an 1879 play written by Henrik Ibsen that observes a few evenings within the household of Torvald and Nora Helmer. In A Doll House many different themes of traditional gender roles and marriage are explored throughout the play. Questions are raised on if the ways the events unfold are acceptable. At the end of A Doll House the main character Nora leaves her husband Torvald due to her realization that they are not in love and that she has been living with a stranger all these years. This brings in to question whether or not it is acceptable for a woman to simply walk away from a marriage, involving three children, and not attempt to work things out.
Thus Einar Haugen insists that “Nora is not just a woman arguing for liberation; she is me. She embodies the comedy as well as the tragedy of modern life” (as cited in Joan Templeton, 1989, p. 28). Templeton, nevertheless, takes up issues with this relegation of feminism to an inessential position in the play. For her (and many other critics would agree with her), dismissing women’s right as the subject of A Doll’s House is a gentlemanly refusal to acknowledge the existence of a tiresome reality (1989, p. 29). Templeton (1989) further argues that despite Ibsen’s disavowal of having consciously written with a feminist vision, “A Doll’s House is
Without the physical act of retaliation, there would be nothing to discuss. When discussing feminism, the theme that both The Awakening and A Doll’s House bring up, it can be argued that the women’s acts of rebellion were more harmful to their families than helpful. One factor unmentioned in the discussion of Edna and Nora’s rebellions are the families that both women left behind. Both Nora and Edna ultimately abandoned their children in an attempt to find a greater sense of self. Thus, Nora and Edna betray their obligation and duties as mothers.
Norah who is meant to be the one who acts like a child in the play because she wasn’t very well educated apart from anything that is happening outside her house, she also doesn’t really have authority in her house. Whereas Torvald is meant to be the antagonist while he was just trying to live up to the society’s expectations. He doesn’t treat Norah as person who is from the same position and treats her as if she is his doll who he can fool around with whenever he gets his free time from being a banker. Krogstad is also considered to be an antagonist but this does not certainly mean he is the villain in the book. Krogstad blackmails Norah in order for him to have a higher position in the bank so that he could provide his family with basic needs.
He is a soul who firmly believes that a person has a reputation to hold and that is a reason he doesn’t give Krogstad a job in the bank. When Nora asks him to show mercy on Krogstad, he sternly asks her-‘Nora, Nora, and you would be a party to that sort of thing? To have any talk with a man like that, and give him any sort of promise?’ (Act 2, Page-40)This again depicts that Torvald was a man with high ideals and promises. It can be suggested that by following a path constructed by society, Torvald loses a sense of singularity. When the letter is introduced in the play in act 3 the behavior of Torvald towards Nora changes notably.
“Torvald is so absurdly fond of me that he wants me absolutely to himself, as he says.” This quote is said from Nora to a close friend of hers in the play The Dolls House by Henrik Ibson, and it is a perfect encapsulation of how perspective changes the reading of a story. While a neutral reader would see this line as bad but understandable, A female young adult reader growing up in a time and setting where she has taught to be comfortable about her sexuality would have a very different impression of this line. This female reader would judge TorvaldTovald much more harshly and more lasting than the average reader It is an irrefutable fact that Torvald treat Nora like a child, and this reader would be offended by this. For an example close to
Nora also understands the repercussions of revealing her secret, therefore she keeps this secret in an effort to save Torvald’s reputation. In the play, A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen, light and dark and paper imagery convey that preserving one’s reputation through deceit develops a temporary sense of security. Light and dark imagery of A Doll’s House represents the light of truth amidst their dark world of protection made up of falsehoods and lies. Specifically, the imagery of the lighting and extinguishing of the candles on the Christmas tree represents the fleeting moments of truth throughout the play, then immediately back into their world lacking understanding. Torvald reveals in the beginning of the play that Nora’s trivial secrets of the money she spent on presents will be revealed on Christmas Day.
Likewise, the addition of the phrase, “Don’t you see?” adds a touch of irony since it plays off the notion that the man knows best and that his view is the correct one; in this case, Carol is the one indoctrinating her opinion to John and is being highly critical of his lack of understanding towards her view. Correspondingly, A Doll’s House captures how impactful abusive language can be. Henrik Ibsen assigning Nora negative emotive language at the end of the play correlates to why she was able to adequately gain power over Torvald. Her assertive statement, “...for eight years I had been living here with a strange man, and had borne him three children,” serves to criticize Torvald’s treatment towards her. Through the use of this language, Nora is able to insult Torvald in such a way that